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November 26, 2004

Australians Out of Pocket Over Health

by Sam Savage

The annual cost of health care in Australia rose to $72.2 billion in 2002-2003, or $3,652 per person, according to the latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures. The $5.6 billion increase is equivalent to a rate of inflation of 8.5%. Pharmaceutical faced even greater inflationary pressures, with increases of 11.6% annually. At the same time, health funding from governments declined by 0.4% and out-of-pocket spending increased by 5.6%.